Matilda The Musical returns to Sunderland Empire

Matilda the Musical returns to the Sunderland Empire Theatre Stage for a three-week engagement, bringing us a heartfelt story of imagination and finding where and with whom you belong. All wrapped in a bundle of childlike joy and curiosity, something that feels more important to hold onto than ever.

A Royal Shakespeare Company production, with music and lyrics by Tim Minchin, book by Dennis Kelly, adapting the iconic children’s book of the same name by Roald Dahl, follows the story of Matilda Wormwood, an incredibly bright little girl and book worm, who faces cruelty from both her parents and headteacher, but in this discovers a special power to help her improve her life and the lives of others such as her kind teacher Miss Honey.

A story brought to stage by a spectacular cast, including Tessa Kadler’s heartfelt portrayal of Miss Honey, bringing emotional grounding to the story, along with one of the stronger vocal performances of the cast. Richard Hurst as the villainous Miss Trunchbull, leaping straight off the page of our childhoods, embracing the wacky physicality and personality of the show’s antagonist. Adam Stafford and Rebecca Thornhill, as Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood, the show’s main comedy foil, through their laugh out loud antics, making the audience torn as to whether to boo at their poor treatment of Matilda or laugh at their over the top antics. Additionally, a more surprising standout was Esther Niles as Mrs. Phelps, a local librarian that Matilda loves to tell stories too. While not as frequently seen as other members in the cast, Niles’ performance and interactions on stage gave a sense of extra warmth to the piece and feed into the shows  theme of childlike imagination.

Photo credit: Sunderland Empire. Ensemble of Matilda The Musical 2026

Of course, we cannot forget about the younger performers, with four performers playing Matilda, including Madison Davis, Mollie Hutton, Olivia Ironmonger and Sanna Kurihara. As well as the character of Bruce, including Oisin-Luca Pegg, Carter-J Murphy, Brodie Robson and Takunda Khumalo.

Last Thursday night, Sanna Kurihara took the stage as Matilda, bringing to life the cheeky wittiness of the character, in both her physical and vocal performances, and doing a wonderful job leading such a large production. Joined by Takunda Khumalo as Bruce, playing an entertaining comedic element in the classroom scenes of the show. Along with their fellow cast of Revolting Children commanding the stage.

Photo credit: Sunderland Empire. Sanna Kurihara as Matilda and Tessa Kadler as Miss Honey

However, I found this musical shining the brightest was in its ensemble pieces, whether it was when the younger members of the cast were performing with one another or also with the adult performers, there was a sense of passion and joy in their chemistry that felt electrifying. This was partly due to the cast’s performance and the set designs of Rob Howell, knowing when to thrill the audiences with more complicated set designs for the ensemble to play off in songs such as the School Song and then when to let the show breathe and it’s cast to give a more earnest performance in songs such as When I Grow Up.  While the show’s choreography by itself wasn’t the major stand out of the experience, the way that it is combined and interacted with the set design elevated it to something not seen commonly on stage. The show felt like a great example of when different elements such as set and costume design, choreography and the performers themselves work together and feed off each other like a well-oiled stage machine.

Overall, I would highly recommend this show for any age, for its heartfelt moments of longing, wacky comedy elements, its spectacular cast and a sense of wonder and imagination that it felt from the physical stage, right through the performers and beyond.

Matilda The Musical is at the Empire Theatre Sunderland until Saturday 28^th February. Tickets are available on the AGT Website.